Re: Web Services and COBOL (Fairly long post, but I don't have timeto write a proper

"Frank Swarbrick" <Frank.Swarbrick@efirstbank.com> wrote in message
news:465C1C50.6F0F.0085.0@efirstbank.com... 
> <5c1hsnF2uuqhfU1@mid.individual.net>,
> Pete Dashwood<dashwood@removethis.enternet.co.nz> wrote:
> 
>
> I've only been browsing this thread, so maybe I'm not understanding, but
> why
> do you feel the need to use COM from Java to be able to do SOAP stuff?

That isn't exactly what I feel... :-) I feel the need to be able to use COM
from Java so that the richness of the several thousand COM servers already
on my machine can be unlocked and used by Java. The SOAP Toolkit is just ONE
such COM server.

> There is Java support out there for SOAP.  Specifically, the
> org.apache.soap.* and org.apache.soap.rpc.* packages.  (I'm sure there are
> others.)
>
Yes, you COULD do it all with SOAP, yourself (after all, it's just XML...)
but it is MUCH easier if you invoke the methods of the SOAP COM object, and
it takes a lot less code). There are no worries with establishing socket
connections, checking transfers, detecting errors, etc.  it is all provided
by a COM server. Why re-invent the wheel? In a non Windows environment where
you don't have the SOAP toolkit available, you don't have much option, other
than to do it yourself. This is partly why SOAP is obsolete and DotNET
services are replacing it; they run across most platforms.

> My only experience with this is utilizing a simple demo to access a
> mainframe SOAP service from my PC, but it works.

Sure. The nearest analogy I can think of quickly is: Why write Assembler
when you can write COBOL?

Pete.